health

50 Serious Games for Social Change. Computer games designed to teach about social issues like public health, the environment, human rights and poverty. A very mixed bag here, but an interesting, emerging space to watch. (via)

Health, House, Economy.
“The ‘standard account’ of home foreclosure attributes this spike to loose lending practices, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real estate market, and rising interest rates. Based on our study of homeowners going through foreclosures in four states... half of all respondents (49%) indicated that their foreclosure was caused in part by a medical problem, including illness or injuries (32%), unmanageable medical bills (23%), lost work due to a medical problem (27%), or caring for sick family members (14%).”

“Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003 have killed thousands of people, mostly Iraqi civilians, and arguably constitute a new phenomenon in the history of warfare. Suicide bombings have been used as a tactic in other armed struggles, but their frequency and lethality in Iraq is unprecedented.” [source]

“The US military is grappling with a record number of soldier suicides. At least thirteen soldiers took their lives last month.… As many as 143 soldiers reportedly took their own lives last year.” [source]

“The true incidence of suicide among veterans is not known, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. Based on numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the VA estimates that 18 veterans a day — or 6,500 a year — take their own lives, but that number includes vets from all wars.” [source]

tobaccoatlas.org. The World Lung Foundation and the American Cancer Society this week published the Third Edition of the The Tobacco Atlas in print and, for the first time, as an interactive website. The atlas is full of maps, charts, data and narrative describing the global scope of the issue: consumption, health and mortality, economic costs, health education, history and more. Links to campaign materials are woven throughout. The press release summarizes some of the more devastating statistics. Browsing the online map I was surprised to discover the scale of smoking in Russia!

Better World Advertising. “I started Better World Advertising because I saw the power that social marketing could have in helping individuals, and society as whole, in solving issues that cause a lot of pain and suffering. I still believe that getting information to people and delivering messages that motivate them to make better decisions has unlimited potential for good.” BWA is an ad agency that focuses on LGBT, HIV and public health campaigns. Some of the work is quite good. Groundswell and Osocio have published an interview with the founder/creative director and art director.

Health warning labels for cars. “All advertising for new cars will have to carry cigarette-style ‘health warnings’ about their environmental impact, under a European plan to force manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Companies that produce the most polluting cars will also have to pay penalties of up to Â£5,000 per vehicle, with the proceeds used to reduce the cost of the most efficient cars. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines, will have to devote at least 20 per cent of the space to details about fuel economy and CO2 emissions.... Car advertisements will have to carry colour-coded emissions labels... with bands ranging from dark green to red.”

Health Care That Works. “A Google Map mash-up designed to visually illustrate the economic and racial disparities that exist in New York City's health care system. The website overlays data on NYC hospital closures between 1985 and 2007 onto an interactive city-wide map that can display either the racial or economic demographics of the Five Boroughs during three distinct time periods: 1985, 1995, and 2005. Using this tool, visitors can visually see how hospital closures disproportionately impact poor neighborhoods and communities of color (this is particularly vivid in Central Brooklyn). Text on the sidebars guides the user through each decade and demographic overlay, explaining the changing conditions of the city and the impact that closures have on underserved communities.”